Redknapp told officers he had not seen his pay slip in years as he said: "You talk to anybody at the football club. I don't write. I couldn't even fill a team sheet in."

He also told officers of a feud with Milan Mandaric over a bonus he was due for the sale of Peter Crouch from Portsmouth to Aston Villa.

Regarding his relationship with Mandaric, Redknapp added: "I was getting bigger than him at the football club and he didn't like it really."

Redknapp said his co-defendant had not wanted him to sign Crouch in the first place.

Redknapp told police: "Mandaric told me 'He's useless. I think you are going to have to pay me 10 per cent'."

When England striker Crouch was sold on for a £3million profit, Redknapp said he was due 10 per cent.

But chief executive Peter Storrie said "you've only got 5 per cent Harry" as he was due to sign a new deal, Redknapp claimed.

Redknapp said he then told Mandaric: "I don't want to end up with a tax bill."

The defendant said he had been told by Mandaric there was no tax "on so many occasions".

He added that the Monaco account the money had been paind into was "as far as I was concerned, it was dead".

"I didn't even know what bank it was I walked into - and neither did my wife," Redknapp said.

A banker earlier told the court that Redknapp made "disastrous" business decisions and lost £250,000 in a "very unsuccessful" takeover bid at Oxford United.

He lost every penny as part of a loan to take control of the club, HSBC executive Alan Hills said.

Redknapp's barrister John Kelsey-Fry QC used the example to deny prosecution claims that the Tottenham Hotspur manager was a "hard-headed businessman".

He asked Mr Hills at Southwark Crown Court, in London: "Do you remember an occasion when he was persuaded to loan, at very short notice, £250,000 to buy Oxford United and that money just disappeared into the mist?"

Mr Hills replied: "I have never seen it, yes."

Mr Hills said Redknapp had shown acumen in the property market, but he agreed with Mr Kelsey-Fry's claim that "with the benefit of hindsight, some investments were disastrous".

He added: "With regard to the shares (in Oxford United)... it is fair to say they were very unsuccessful."

Mr Hills, an associate director with HSBC in London between 2000 and 2009, said he held meetings with Redknapp alongside the football boss's solicitor and accountant.

The jury was told Mr Hills was not initially informed of Redknapp's Monaco dealings in addition to the domestic accounts he held with HSBC.

Mr Hills said: "I would have expected to have known or be told of it."

When Redknapp mentioned the account, he told Mr Hills the account name was "in relation to his dog".

"When asked for a name for the account, that was the first thing that came to his mind," Mr Hills told jurors.

The court heard earlier that Redknapp had sole responsibility for the Monaco bank account in the name of his dog Rosie.

The Tottenham Hotspur manager was the only signature on records for the account at the centre of £189,000 bung allegations, a bank chief said.

David Cusdin, vice-president of HSBC in Monaco between 2000 and 2005, also described co-defendant Milan Mandaric as "a perfect gentleman".

Giving evidence via videolink at Southwark Crown Court, Mr Cusdin said he was aware that Redknapp had flown to the principality to open an account.

"I was certainly aware of his visit - it was quite possible that I didn't open the account, it was one of my team - but I was certainly aware of the visit," Mr Cusdin told the court.

"I don't have a recollection - but I could well have shaken his hand at the meeting."

Mr Cusdin had met Milan Mandaric on several occasions, the court heard.

The ex-bank chief said he had known Mandaric since the football chairman had sold club Nice in France.

"We had regular contact as clients and account officers would," he said.

The bank chief added that "Mr Mandaric, is a perfect gentleman... he would always ring prior to the visit".

Redknapp opened a "non-advisory account" with HSBC in Monaco in 2002, the court heard.

John Black QC, for the prosecution, asked: "Is it necessary for the client to be present?"

Mr Cusdin replied: "Normally, yes. The client would have to be present."

The banker added that "in this case, it is a single person on the account ... one signature on the account."

Mr Cusdin said he was responsible "for private English-speaking clientele" during his time with the bank in Monaco.

The banker, who was responsible for a team dealing with up to 700 clients, said: "I would have been part of the decision process, yes," in accepting Redknapp as an account-holder.

Mr Cusdin said Mandaric was also a client at that time.

Both Redknapp, 64, of Poole, Dorset, and Mandaric, from Oadby, Leicestershire, deny two counts of cheating the public revenue when Redknapp was manager of Portsmouth Football Club.

The first charge of cheating the public revenue alleges that between April 1, 2002 and November 28, 2007 Mandaric paid 145,000 US dollars (£93,100) into the account.

The second charge for the same offence relates to a sum of 150,000 US dollars (£96,300) allegedly paid between May 1, 2004 and November 28, 2007.

Previously, Southwark Crown Court heard that Redknapp claimed that “if there is any mud to sling I seem to be on the end of it” and said that friends had told him it was because his name is Harry and he has a cockney accent.

Transcripts were read out from an interview Redknapp gave to the Quest Inquiry, an investigation in to corruption in football led by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Stevens in November 2006 in which he was talking about a conversation he had had with a friend.

“He said [Redknapp’s friend] to me, ‘Harry, I can’t believe it is always you. It is because you are called Harry and have a Cockney accent’,” Redknapp said.

“I’m sick and tired of it. No one is more of a fan of the game than me, my son is a player. If there is any mud to sling, I seem to be on the end of it. You can look anywhere you want. No one will find anything on me. There is nothing in the world on me.”

The court also heard that Redknapp was first confronted with allegations about payments to his Monaco account 48 hours before the 2009 Carling Cup final, which took place on March 1 between Redknapp’s Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

In a taped telephone conversation with a News of the World journalist Redknapp said: “You’re going to write what you want to write and [inaudible] to f--- me on Cup final day.”

The now defunct newspaper did not publish its allegations until October 2009. The final finished goalless with United beating Tottenham on penalties.

In his opening speech, John Black QC told the jury that Redknapp’s account about the Monaco payments differed from that of Mandaric.

“Those explanations, the Crown say, are contradictory, inconsistent and lack credibility,” Black said. He went on to say that “at the heart of the Crown’s case is the fact that no tax was paid.”